MADISON TWP. — A proposed $12.7 million budget for next year that includes spending $2.2 million on federal highway aid projects was sent on for a public hearing at the Dec. 20 Lenawee County Road Commission board meeting.The draft budget was presented to the board Thursday.

Projects aimed at using up accumulated federal aid money create a major jump in the road commission budget for next year, said managing director Scott Merillat. The budget will deflate the following year when less than $1 million in federal aid projects are planned, he said.

Annual public hearings at the road commission’s final meeting of the year will also include proposed changes in permit regulations that have drawn attention from utilities, Merillat said. The proposed changes are in response to complaints by property owners in the Blissfield area affected this fall by installation of a telephone fiber optic cable. Merillat said the road commission is seeking more information from utilities in advance of work in road rights of way.

The budget hearing will include proposed spending on the federal aid projects. The largest of eight projects is repaving 10 miles of Rogers Highway and Rouget Road from Tecumseh to U.S. 223 in Palmyra.

A three-county task force that oversees federal highway aid spending is to review the county’s plan in February.

If approved, Merillat said, the projects will use up most of the federal highway aid dollars that have been accumulating for several years. Projects that would have used most of the money this year were canceled after the Michigan Department of Transportation changed regulations in February.

Most of the federal aid money will now be spent on projects done by private contractors rather than road commission crews. New rules from MDOT limit federal aid projects done by county road commission crews to five per year totaling no more than $400,000.

The proposed budget also anticipates a $340,000 increase in state revenue next year from fuel taxes and vehicle registration fees. Merillat said the increase is in line with revenue that has exceeded the $6.4 million in the 2012 road commission budget.

In addition to the road projects planned for 2013, the budget includes a $725,000 bridge replacement project on Rodesiler Highway near Ottawa Lake Road in Riga Township. Most of the funding will come from a grant from MDOT.

Merillat said Lenawee County was also recently awarded two bridge grants for projects in 2015.

“That’s really good because there’s not much for bridge funding out there,” Merillat said.

One grant is $1.47 million to replace a three-span bridge on Crockett Highway in Palmyra Township. The deteriorating structure had been reduced to a 13-ton weight limit, disrupting truck traffic in the area. The second bridge grant is $655,000 to replace a bridge on Bent Oak Highway in Adrian Township.